HiLifta-palooza - Clod bodied build

[OldSchoolRC]

Been away from RC for a bit, was burning out somewhat. Took some time off, cleaned and re-organized my shop a bit (always gets me pumped up) and it's time to get working!

I posted some pics here of my Junfac'd hilift, and since it didn't have a 3 speed and leafs, someone made the comment that it wasn't really a hilift anymore! Could not agree more, and decided to redo it with the original chassis and 3speed tranny.

BUT

That left a very nice 4 link'd Junfac chassis with TLT's and an R2 tranny left over. I've been inspired by Jeffro's chevy builds, and I had a clod body left over so I decided to build that up while I wait for some parts for the HL to come in.

And that of course leads to a whole 'nother project, so will post both as I sort them out. This thread is for the Chevy, which needs quite a bit of work.

I am using a set of TLT axles what were already on this chassis. I had made some large and ugly 4 link mounts that worked, but didn't look scale at all. I took them off, cut off all the mounts and used the axle trusses I cut for the blazer build. Much better! So far I've fabbed up the rear body mounts and mounted a PL front bumper.

The Palooza pair....HL is really only mocked up, though tranny and axles are on. Needs quite a few odds and ends. The Chevy is much closer to being done, so I decided to work on that first.


Junfac chassis....work of art!! Cliff climber chassis plates bolted to the side for 4-link mounts - actually fit in the stock holes with no mods. Will all be painted flat black though once everything is mocked up....hate to cover up that shine, but just doesn't look real under there. Moved the shock mounts a bit, and made a small acrylic plate to mount the electronics on, and the battery mounts between the frame rails.


Swapped out the shocks with a set of 80mm RC4wd scale shocks. Very stiff, have to sort that out yet but looks 100% better. Only have one pair, just ordered another pair today, as well as rear axle lockouts.


Stance I'm shooting for. Will be doing some body mods along the way, and have to shorten the rear links a bit.


More to come!

[Waterboy]

looking great Nick! Glad to see you back

[JAnderson]

Glad to see you are back, I get burnt out sometimes as well and cleaning things up or a little organizing sometimes sparks something. Or maybe when we come out with a new kit I have to have! LOL

Looks good, what else you going to do to it? You need to sand down that F350 on the chassis. LOL

[OldSchoolRC]

Who's Nick?

Yes, nice to take a break now and again - keeps you fresh! Canned some of my older projects as well for a fresh start.

Nothing too fancy (like the other clod body build going on here), just get the chassis worked out, get the body stripped and re-painted, do a few body mods and turn it into a decent trail runner for now. Pretty much the same plan for the F350 as well.

[OldSchoolRC]

Paint stripping....ugh!! 7 years worth of 4 layers of paint, and a ton of primer inbetween. Takes a while...doing it in stages. Going to pick up some brake fluid it try it out, not really a fan of the citri-strip, though it did not melt the plastic at all like it did the BF body. Strange. Works, but leaves a very hard coating on the body.

[OldSchoolRC]

Got a little more done over the weekend (before I got flooded out that is )

Straight axle adapters are on, wheelbase has been shortened, body mounts fabbed up, shocks are in and mounted (WAY too stiff, have to figure something out) and suprise suprise!! new body! Have the rest of the parts on the way as well, will continue stripping the other body for a clod roller that's on the way. Plan to remove the blower and mod the grill a bit.

Should be painting the chassis soon, just have a few more tweaks on the front body mounts to do first. Yes, i will be removing the F350 logo

[Arcocustom]

Looks good. Nice new shell.

The springs in those shocks are hard as a rock. They make softer ones, but they are pretty stiff too. On mine, I replaced the original springs with the springs out of my stock High-Lift units.

[jeffro]

I've been meaning to tell you that I have been keeping an eye on your chevy and ford build, since you blamed me

Looks like your clod body turned out purty good. Now to find a chevy grille or grind the 4x4x4 out of it.

[OldSchoolRC]

Thanks guys, it's coming along slowly!

I'm not sure if it's the spring itself or the seals, the fronts are pretty well used and filled with 20wt, while the rears are new and unfilled. The front ones feel like a rock, rears are not much better even without oir (assume the seals needs to break in) May remove the seals and try running w/o oil, or remove the piston and just use the e-clips as the piston. Will experiment and see what works best since it all has to come back apart. Do have some springs to play with as well.

Not feeling the bumper - like the style, but is a little big. Might make a new one, have to think about it.

And yes, the 4x4x4 is coming out!

[OldSchoolRC]

Small update: started the body mods, chassis is pretty much finished except for paint and since the body takes forever, figured I'd get started. Built a cowl hood, filled in the sunroof and body mount holes, as well as the vertical cut lines in the fenders. Tried using some Bondo spot filler, but not really happy with it - cracked everwhere as it dried. Will take a few rounds of filling and sanding anyway, just a pain in the rear. Going back to squadron putty.

Rest of the new body parts should be here this week. Spent a very expensive hour scouring Tower this weekend...